Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Office of Strategic Services - OSS - was the World War II-era precursor to todays CIA and Army Special Forces. The author of this article keeps refering to "marinetime" but I think he means "maritime" - S.L.

The late Christian J. Lambertsen demonstrates the first re-breather system, which he invented and later coined the acronym SCUBA for the already existing basic diving system.

The ashes of the man responsible for developing what evolved into the most advanced scuba systems used by today's Special Operations Forces, as well as leading marine researchers and explorers, will be spread this morning in the waters off Key West.

Christian J. Lambertsen was a medical student in 1939 when he invented his Lambertsen Amphibious Respirator Unit (LARU), a forerunner of modern dive re-breathers used today by the Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs and deep-sea explorers. Lambertsen died on Feb. 11 at his home in Newtown Square, Pa., at the age of 93.

His family, colleges and Special Operations Forces members will gather this morning at the Army Special Forces Underwater Operations School on Fleming Key to say goodbye to the medical doctor, veteran of the CIA forerunner Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and commander of that clandestine organizations's Marinetime Unit.

Back of the original LARU unit - both photos courtesy of the Lambertsen collection.

The inventor helped coin the phrase "Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus," or SCUBA, and is considered the father of modern combat swimming, as he trained the Navy's underwater demolition teams, the precursor of the modern SEAL Teams and other Special Operations Forces.